It's 3:30am on Sunday morning, As usual I can't sleep. Done a bit of manual curation and was about to write a report for the Hivechess tournament i hosted yesterday. Scrolling around, I came across this post. I found a very interesting topic that caught my attention!
As a kid did you ever wish you were an adult and if so, what age did you want to be and why?
So many reasons why this caught my attention, I could start by saying YES! I wanted to be an adult pretty fast. I can also say I went down memory lane with this topic because, I sometimes feel I became an adult pretty fast and I miss my childhood days.
I Wished
I was 12, Innocent but tired. I loved chess so much and wanted to play everytime. My parents were so focused on my education and me maintaining the best grades. They didn't just want good grades from me, they wanted the best. When I fell in love with chess, I figured I could travel round the country and even outside by playing chess.
A time where being an adult felt like the greatest wish ever was when there was a Tournament 620 miles from my state - About 17 hours by road. It was a "Northern chess event" I had to go from Lagos state to Kano state.
I wanted to go so badly. First prize for the under 14 category was 5,000 naira and a Chess book. The prizes didn't justify the need to travel however all I wanted to do was play chess. It didn't really matter what the prizes were.
The obvious dilemma was that my parents wont let me travel!
At this point, I wished I was an adult because I won't need any permission from them and I would just go. I was 12 years old however, I was already in high school. Most of my mates were 3-4 years older than I was. I felt they were different and even though we were all in the same age bracket, it didn't seem like that for me.
Aside Playing chess outside my state, I couldn't attend birthday parties, I couldn't even drink palm wine, neither could I even watch movies till certain time.
Every child tells a story of watching avatar, legend of the seeker, Ben10 in my days then. Honestly, I never did. I was just a bit late to everything because I was just a kid. A kid with heavy protection. We didn't have CCTV footage but my whereabouts at all time was being monitored.
My Matriculation Photo in 2016! - Damn I looked so young!
University!
Fours later, I was 16+ and I got admission to two universities. My parent wanted to pick the one closer to my state. I was 16,but I still wished I was an adult. In 2016, universities didn't allow my age to get enrolled, I was among the exceptions because of chess. The whole point of this story was to let you know my mother followed me on a 10 hours road trip to my university and (sports) hostel, handed me over to my coach and called almost 4 times everyday. I did a part of my university as a kid in high school. Nothing much different till everything changed suddenly...
The change is why, to date, I miss those days and I wish I was a child again. I wanted to be an adult so bad that when I became one and life left me all alone, I miss those days. I missed to be checked on regularly, I missed to be monitored, I miss those expectations to be the best. I miss my childhood days!
Btw, I finally go to travel a long distance to play my first National university games
Me & 
Thanks to galenkp for this prompt,made me emotional. If you want to share your experience this weekend, Look at this post, pick a topic and fly by it. I'd definitely be reading and supporting your post!
I am 
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Thanks For Reading!
Colorful Minimalist Photo Grid by canva, Images are mine, Some haven't been posted, while others have been on one or two of my social web2 pages